No visible progress in Sagar-Runi murder case in 7 years
Sagar Sarwar was the news editor of Maasranga TV channel while Meherun Runi was the senior reporter of ATN Bangla
Seven years have elapsed since the gruesome murder of journalist couple Sagar-Runi, yet motives behind the double murder are shrouded in mystery with no visible progress in the probe.
The relatives of the victims think that the murder case has been buried. They also have got frustrated and lost hope of justice at the lack of progress.
The only son of the couple, Mahir Sarwar Megh, has turned 12 now. He was five years old when his parents were brutally murdered at their home in the Rajabazar area of the capital on February 11, 2012.
Expressing frustration with the probe, Sagar’s mother Saleha Munir said, the submission date of the probe report has been deferred several times. Still there is no headway in the case. “Though everyone has forgotten them, I cannot do so because I am a mother.”
“I fear I will not get justice in my lifetime,” she lamented.
Runi’s brother, Nawsher Alam Roman, also the complainant of the case, told the Dhaka Tribune: “The investigation officer of the case is not communicating with us for the last two years.” “We have abandoned hope that the motives behind the murder will ever be unearthed,” he said, adding: “It is very clear that the case has been buried in a planned way.”
Sagar Sarwar was the news editor of Maasranga TV channel while Meherun Runi was the senior reporter of ATN Bangla.
On February 1 last year, a Dhaka court directed Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) to submit the probe report but failed to make any headway over the case till now.
During the long-probe, investigators have interrogated a total of 158 persons, including 27 journalists, and recorded statements of Megh, but no results yet.
The double murder incident had triggered public outcry. Police, detectives, and political bigwigs turned up at the couple’s residence and assured their families of justice through a speedy trial.
The then Home Minister, Shahara Khatun, IGP Hassan Mahmud Khandaker, and DMP spokesperson, Monirul Islam, assured solving the mystery, and some arrests were also made, but none of them confessed to their involvement in the murder and the case remains shrouded in mystery.
Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU) secretary, Md Kabir Ahmed Khan, on Sunday said: “seven years have elapsed since the killing of the journalist couple but we are yet to get justice.”
A protest program will be held on the premises of the Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU) at 11:00am on Monday, demanding justice in the killing of Sagar-Runi, he added.
